By Any Other Name
by edelweiss123
Summary: Suki sets out to resolve her differences with Toph.  Toph/Suki friendship.  Set on Ember Island.


Sparky.

Sugar Queen.

Twinkletoes.

Snoozles.

And then there was her. Suki. _Just _Suki.

Whenever Toph had reason to address her—and the occasions were rare, she had noticed—it was never with her usual brunt sarcasm.

Everyone else in their little group had been given a nickname—or two, in Kataras' case—right off the bat. But her?

She could only think of one time Toph had said her name at all, and the blind earthbender hadn't even been speaking to her.

Suki considered herself a friendly person. She had to be tough and merciless at times, but outside of battle, she tried to be as unassuming and patient as possible.

Sokka, obviously, she got along with _very _well. After he had gotten over his 'overprotective' phase, they had had almost no problems in their relationship.

Katara just seemed happy to have someone she could talk about 'girl' things with, even if she didn't understand why someone would want to date her brother.

Aang got along with just about everyone and every_thing_, so even though they didn't really interact much, they were comfortable in each others' company.

Zuko… well, he didn't really interact with _anyone _much. But, he had helped her escape from prison, and was always polite, and that was good enough for her.

Toph, then, was the only one who seemed to actively dislike her.

And she had no idea why.

So when Katara was assigning chores for the morning, and tasked Suki and Toph to run into town for groceries, Suki decided it was time she did something about the younger girls' attitude problem—she was a Kyoshi Warrior, for crying out loud! She wouldn't just stand there and let herself be treated that way!

She would be upfront about it. The girl was always so blunt and tactless, that Suki figured she might get a better response if she acted in kind.

They had been walking down the road in silence for nearly three minutes before Suki stopped, put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

Toph stopped too and crossed her arms, leaning jauntily to the side. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and cocked her head.

"Gonna cry about it?" She sounded hopeful.

Suki pursed her lips. "No, but it would be nice to know _why_."

Toph snorted disdainfully. "What, I can't just _not _like you? I hate to break it to you, but you're not some great, awesome person that everyone worships. You know, I _hate _it when people act like that. Katara did that, too. But at least Katara doesn't—" Her eyes suddenly widened, and her mouth snapped shut. She turned around and started walking—stomping—back down the path.

"You know what? Forget it. C'mon, let's get this over with. I want to go back to the beach and practice my sandbending."

Suki followed behind, wracking her brains for what could have possibly caused the girls' sour attitude toward her. A sudden thought struck her.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened on the Serpents' Pass, would it?"

It had been so long ago, and was such a tiny part of that day, that Suki had almost forgotten about it. But since it had been one of the few times she had actually interacted with the girl, she remembered it now. But Toph didn't seem like the type of person to get overly embarrassed by mistaking one person for another, let alone stay mad about it. She was blind, for Kyoshis' sake! She had to be used to that kind of thing by now!

But as soon as the question had left Sukis' mouth, Tophs' face flushed bright red in anger. Or maybe embarrassment?

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Suki was a little taken aback by Tophs' response. What about what had happened that day had her so upset? Suki remembered seeing the earthbender fall into the water and jumping in to save her, and then Toph had given her a hug. What had she said, exactly?

'_Sokka, you saved me!'_

Now, why had Toph assumed that she was Sokka?

Unless, maybe… Suki cast another glance down at the girls' bright, blushing face.

Oh.

_Oh._

Well, this was awkward.

Suki sighed. "All right, if you don't want to talk about it…"

"I don't." And she stomped off ahead of Suki a little ways, hiding her face.

The trip to the market was interesting, to say the least. She had no idea you could perform the task of grocery shopping with so few words. But halfway home, Suki decided that Toph had had enough time to cool off.

"I'm sorry, Toph." And she really was. For everything. Suki had had no idea that love could hurt people like this, but the evidence was right in front of her eyes, in the sulking earth warrior before her. She knew that Toph always put on a tough face, but right now, Suki felt like for the first time she could see the insecure little 12-year-old girl that was buried underneath all those layers of calluses and dirt, and wondered how many other people had seen her, too.

Toph just stopped walking for a second, letting the words hang in the air, then kept going. She addressed Suki without turning around.

"I'm not apologizing, if that's what you want," Toph informed her dully. Sukis' lip quirked at the edges, somehow more amused than frustrated with the girl now, though she was definitely plenty of both.

"I don't want an apology," Suki told her evenly and honestly. And she knew Toph would be able to tell.

"Oh?" She started, then turned around to stare the older girl down. "Then what _do _you want?"

"A nickname." That apparently derailed train of thought Toph had been riding on, because the accusatory expression dropped off of her face like she'd been slapped. The earthbender was silent for a moment, her blind eyes unreadable as always, but then a wicked grin crept onto her face.

"I've got it!" She snapped her fingers. "You can be "Sokkas' Fan-Girl"!" Her tone was dry and sarcastic and mocking and maybe just a little more mean than usual. The name itself was insulting and degrading and that was probably intentional.

Suki let out a breathless chuckle. "Sounds about right."

Toph, hesitantly, cracked a grin.

It wasn't much, but the rest of the trip home was without any tension.

It was a start.

~o0o~

Gotta love Toph. She practically writes herself.

Leave me love!


End file.
